Man Sentenced for Guns Found Buried Near I-66

An Arlington man has been sentenced to 40 months in prison for “possessing firearms after being convicted of a felony.”

The charge stems from an incident in October when a number of guns were found buried in the ground near Patrick Henry Drive and I-66. Investigators from the FBI and the Arlington County Police Department used forensic evidence to link the guns to 61-year-old Cherrydale resident and convicted felon Rodney M. Gunsauley.

In all, prosecutors say they recovered at least 35 tubes containing 14 guns and more than 20,000 rounds of ammunition.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office issued the following press release tonight.

Rodney Melvin Gunsauley, 61, a resident of Arlington, Va., was sentenced today to 40 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release and a $6,000 fine for possessing firearms after being convicted of a felony.

Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and James W. McJunkin, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, made the announcement after sentencing by United States District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee.

According to the statement of facts and court records, on Oct. 12, 2011, construction workers discovered two weapons caches located at the 1000 block of Patrick Henry Drive, Arlington, Virginia. FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) agents and Arlington County Police and Fire responded to the location and recovered one short barrel AR-15, thirteen AR-15 magazines, 385 armor piercing rounds, two handguns – a Para-Ordinance .45 and Delta Elite Semi-Automatic 10 mm – additional clips for the .45, a lock pick set and coded letter with references to additional locations. Forensic evidence led law enforcement to Gunsauley, whose house was searched pursuant to a federal search warrant on October 20, 2011. Inside his apartment, law enforcement found 12 M16 firing pins, materials to make weapons caches, a shovel and a lock pick set. Gunsauley was taken into custody the same day.

Gunsauley pled guilty on Dec. 8, 2011, to felon in possession of firearms and ammunition. With Gunsauley’s cooperation, law enforcement reported in court today that 33 additional weapons tubes had been recovered in Arlington Va., containing six additional AR15 rifles, five additional handguns to include a 9mm, a 40 caliber and another 45 caliber and 20,000 additional rounds of ammunition.

This case was investigated by FBI Washington Field Office and the Arlington County Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney Ronald L. Walutes Jr. prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States, with assistance from the Arlington County Commonwealth Attorney’s Office.

When I read the headline, I thought the guy had died and was buried near I-66.

Copy Editor

Totally right. Hey, ARLNow, want to take another crack at it?

Tabs

As God is my witness, I’ll never dangle or misplace my modifiers again!!

Josh S

+1

It’s a poorly written headline and should be changed.

Stoneridge

All you need to do is ditch “buried”.

CW

Then it just sounds like they caught a fugitive who escaped after sentencing…

thecharlesriver

Or read the first paragraph?

Phil

“Law enforcement reported in court today that 33 additional weapons tubes had been recovered in Arlington Va., containing six additional AR15 rifles, five additional handguns to include a 9mm, a 40 caliber and another 45 caliber and 20,000 additional rounds of ammunition.”

So many questions … this guy was just burying tubes of guns and ammo around Arlington? How long had he been doing this? When? Where? Should I being a treasure hunt?

MC

I am getting a “concealed carry” ad appearing at the top of this article urging me to “know my rights.” I can’t tell if that’s really clumsy search engine marketing, or really brash.

SomeGuy

I’d say neither. Nothing clumsy about serving up an ad related to knowing the law about firearms alongside an article about a guy who violated the law and received a firearms conviction. Doesn’t seem brash to me either.

thecharlesriver

I agree. What’s brash about that?

jackson

I still don’t know the rule about burying weapons near 66. Sounds like it’s okay, providing you don’t have a prior felony.

Cheryl Hightower

I am quite certain it is not ZONED for that!

Jason S.

They don’t go into detail on the AR-15, but that Para-Ordinance .45 is probably worth several hundred bucks by itself. That’s expensive stuff to bury and hope nobody finds it.

mickey644

Did he have a concealed weapon permit and a jar of peanut butter?

johnnyb

I think he was looking to get on Nat Geo’s “Doomsday Preppers”

Ashton Heights

Para Ordinance .45 – $770
Arming Cherrydale – priceless

mickey644

Get your helmets and flak jackets at Cherrydale Hardware and a shovel to dig that foxhole overlooking Lee Highway! Be prepared for that onslaught of bicyclists, bearded Volvo drivers, and Green Party members!

Tabs

I wonder how they found the grave.

DB

Reminds me of “Eats, Shoots, and Leaves…”

Garden City

+10

Eric

ARL NOW is taking Federal Holidays Off? pfff. News don’t sleep son.

abc

what is this- a two day holiday for arlnow?

Steve

Okay all kidding aside, has anyone asked WHY this wackjob was stashing weapons around the landscape this close to Wash DC?

SomeGuy

Steve, I haven’t seen mention of it, but I can’t imagine they’d interrogate him without asking that question. So I think we can assume that yes, someone asked.

Ed

All I see about the felony is in the 10/21/2011 post; a “fraud-related charge” from 2001. I wonder what the details were. Good thing it was serious enough to turn these burials into a crime.

Dum Dum Guy at the Gates of Dawn

Is anyone else worried that this website has not been updated yet today?

ArLater

Its making my morning go very slow and I dont like it!

OldTimer

Got my coffee, but need my visual fiber to… move things along…

jackson

Is it possible ArlNow was run by Rodney Melvin Gunsauley, so we won’t get another update for 40 months?

Wait, then who posted THIS story?

Garden City

And it would have had a better picture of Rodney Melvin Gunsauley. Possibly something from Glamour Shots.

KalashniKEV

Auction?

Johnny Utah

they should really calls “clips” magazines…

Junior

Man Sentenced for Burying Guns Near Route I-66

Josh S

Bingo.

Cheryl Hightower

Being the neighbor, super creepy. He should have gotten a longer sentence.

Larry Wilson

40 months, you have to be kidding me. He should be in prison for much much longer for this. I’ll bet he had stolen guns as well. That was why he was hiding them as well. He should be in prison for at least 10 years for something like this after his other felony conviction. This why you read time and time again about a guy like this killing other after he is released again, He will do this too….remember I said this!!